Nexstar Closes $6.2 Billion Tegna Takeover as Eight States and DirecTV Race to Court to Block It

The largest consolidation in American local television history became official on Thursday — and immediately became the most contested.

Nexstar Media Group announced that it had closed its $6.2 billion acquisition of rival broadcaster Tegna on March 19, just hours after receiving approval from both the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... The deal creates a broadcasting entity with 259 full-power television stations across 132 markets, reaching approximately 80 percent of American TV households — more than double the FCC's longstanding 39 percent ownership cap, which the agency waived to allow the transaction DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

But the ink was barely dry before the legal counteroffensive began.

Eight States Move to Block Integration

On Wednesday, attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, arguing that the merger violates Section 7 of the Clayton Act DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the multistate effort, called the merger illegal and said it runs contrary to federal antitrust laws designed to protect consumers.

By Friday, the coalition escalated its fight. The eight states filed an emergency motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent Nexstar from integrating or commingling the assets it acquired from Tegna. The motion argued that a restraining order was necessary to avoid irreparable harm to the public interest.

According to the states' filing, their lawyers sent Nexstar and Tegna a copy of the complaint within minutes of filing it on Wednesday and requested a stipulated timing agreement under which the companies would not consummate the transaction until after a final judgment. The states alleged that the defendants failed to even acknowledge the request. Instead, Nexstar closed the acquisition the following afternoon, immediately after the regulatory approvals were announced.

The states characterized Nexstar's rush to close as raising troubling questions about whether the companies were barreling forward to frustrate effective judicial review.

DirecTV Joins the Legal Fight

Less than a day after the state lawsuit was filed, DirecTV launched its own federal antitrust action in the same Sacramento court Nexstar-Tegna Merger Faces Another Antitrust Lawsuit As DirecTV Sues To Block Transactiondeadline.com·SecondaryLess than a day after a group of states sued to block Nexstar‘s $6.2 billion proposed acquisition of Tegna, creating a broadcasting giant, DirecTV has filed an antitrust claim to stave off the transaction. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Thursday, makes similar claims, that the combined company will be able to extract more retransmission fees from cable and satellite distributors.. The satellite and streaming provider, now fully owned by TPG Capital after AT&T sold its 70 percent stake in July 2025, argued that the combined Nexstar-Tegna entity would irreparably drive up consumer costs, reduce local competition, shutter local newsrooms, and increase both the frequency and duration of programming blackouts DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

DirecTV's complaint focused heavily on retransmission consent fees — the payments that cable, satellite, and streaming distributors make to local broadcasters for the right to carry their signals. According to the filing, these fees have increased more than 5,000 percent over the past two decades, rising from roughly $214.6 million in 2006 to an estimated $11.9 billion in 2025 DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... The pay-TV provider argued that giving Nexstar control of 228 broadcast stations reaching 80 percent of television households in 132 local markets would increase concentration in dozens of markets by more than 10 times the threshold that is presumptively unlawful under antitrust law DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

Michael Hartman, DirecTV's general counsel and chief external affairs officer, said the company supports the action taken by the states and determined it was necessary to join the effort to protect competition and consumers DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... He added that DirecTV has consistently maintained that the merger is anticompetitive and that, if allowed to proceed, it would trigger a wave of similar consolidation across the industry DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

DirecTV also warned that the merger would make blackout threats far more coercive. In 31 local markets nationwide, Nexstar would own two or even three affiliates of the Big Four networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — meaning any distributor that refuses Nexstar's terms would risk leaving subscribers in those areas without multiple sources of live sports and local news Nexstar-Tegna Merger Faces Another Antitrust Lawsuit As DirecTV Sues To Block Transactiondeadline.com·SecondaryLess than a day after a group of states sued to block Nexstar‘s $6.2 billion proposed acquisition of Tegna, creating a broadcasting giant, DirecTV has filed an antitrust claim to stave off the transaction. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Thursday, makes similar claims, that the combined company will be able to extract more retransmission fees from cable and satellite distributors..

The Case for the Merger

Nexstar and its supporters see the deal in fundamentally different terms. Perry Sook, Nexstar's founder, chairman, and CEO, described the transaction as essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities the company serves. He argued that bringing the two companies together would create a stronger, more dynamic enterprise better positioned to deliver exceptional journalism and local programming with enhanced assets, capabilities, and talent.

Nexstar has long argued that local broadcasters need greater scale to compete with technology giants like Meta and Google, which have siphoned billions in local advertising revenue over the past decade Nexstar-Tegna Merger Faces Another Antitrust Lawsuit As DirecTV Sues To Block Transactiondeadline.com·SecondaryLess than a day after a group of states sued to block Nexstar‘s $6.2 billion proposed acquisition of Tegna, creating a broadcasting giant, DirecTV has filed an antitrust claim to stave off the transaction. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Thursday, makes similar claims, that the combined company will be able to extract more retransmission fees from cable and satellite distributors.. The company contends that without consolidation, local TV stations will continue to lose ground to digital platforms, resulting in fewer resources for investigative reporting and community coverage.

President Donald Trump has publicly backed the deal. In a social media post on February 7, Trump urged regulators to get it done, framing the merger as a way to challenge what he called the fake news from national television networks DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who has publicly supported eliminating the decades-old 39 percent ownership cap, responded with similar enthusiasm DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

In announcing the FCC's approval on Thursday, Carr said the agency was acting mindful of the media marketplace that exists today rather than the one from decades past. He argued that the decision ensures broadcasters have the resources to continue investing in their local news operations.

As part of the deal's conditions, Nexstar committed to divesting six television stations across six markets within two years. The company also agreed to offer pay-TV providers with existing retransmission agreements an extension at current rates through November 2026, and pledged to expand investment in local news and programming in the acquired markets.

Industry Opposition Goes Beyond DirecTV

The pushback extends well beyond the courtroom plaintiffs. America's Communications Association (ACA Connects), a trade group representing small and midsize TV and broadband providers, warned that the merger would hand even more market power to the nation's largest broadcast conglomerate DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and.... Grant Spellmeyer, the association's president and CEO, argued that the further skewing of the marketplace would hit smaller cable operators and their largely rural customer base the hardest DirecTV Sues to Block Nexstar-Tegna Local TV Deal on Heels of Antitrust Lawsuit From 8 States: ‘DirecTV and Its Subscribers Will End Up Paying More for Less’variety.com·SecondaryDirecTV filed a federal antitrust alleging that the proposed $6.2 billion Nexstar Media deal to buy rival Tegna violates the federal antitrust laws — and would significantly harm consumers. The pay-TV provider’s suit, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Sacramento Division, follows a multistate lawsuit filed in the same court by attorneys general from eight states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and....

Newsmax has also publicly opposed the deal. CEO Chris Ruddy testified before a Senate hearing last month, raising concerns about the competitive implications of allowing such a large combination of broadcast properties Nexstar-Tegna Merger Faces Another Antitrust Lawsuit As DirecTV Sues To Block Transactiondeadline.com·SecondaryLess than a day after a group of states sued to block Nexstar‘s $6.2 billion proposed acquisition of Tegna, creating a broadcasting giant, DirecTV has filed an antitrust claim to stave off the transaction. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Thursday, makes similar claims, that the combined company will be able to extract more retransmission fees from cable and satellite distributors..

What Happens Next

The immediate question is whether the federal judge in Sacramento will grant the states' emergency motion for a temporary restraining order. If granted, Nexstar would be forced to hold Tegna's operations separate while the litigation proceeds — a significant operational complication for a deal that the company has already declared closed.

Both the multistate lawsuit and DirecTV's complaint seek permanent injunctions to unwind or block the merger. The legal battles could take months or even years to resolve, during which the uncertainty may affect Nexstar's integration plans and its ability to realize the cost synergies that typically drive large media mergers.

The broader implications extend beyond the two companies. If the courts ultimately block or unwind the deal despite federal regulatory approval, it would send a strong signal about the limits of executive-branch deregulation when state attorneys general are willing to act. If the deal survives legal challenge, it could open the door to further consolidation in local television — precisely the wave that DirecTV and other opponents warn is coming.

For the millions of Americans who rely on local broadcast stations for news, sports, and emergency information, the stakes are concrete: whether having fewer owners of more stations will mean better-resourced newsrooms or higher cable bills and fewer editorial voices.